The Dread Crew: Pirates of the Backwoods

CM Magazine 'highly recommends' The Dread Crew's humour, spirit

The Dread Crew by Kate Inglis is a hilarious and highly imaginative tale that plays with the tradition of Atlantic Canada pirate stories. There's a strong message at work here, but the book's laugh-out-loud humour and liberal sarcasm successfully distract from the moralistic undertone.

Inglis's spirited prose is a treat to read. Her descriptions of the pirates' repulsive appearance and foul habits elicit the perfect blend of disgust and glee. Although this clever pirate tale is ideal for readers in the 9-13 age range, it will have a broad appeal. For younger children, the book would make a wonderful read-aloud.

CM Magazine (Canadian Review of Materials) is book reviews, media reviews, news, and author profiles of interest to teachers, librarians, parents and kids.

Read CM's complete review here.

January Magazine likes The Dread Crew (and we didn't even have to goop them first)

Kate Inglis' The Dread Crew is a good book -- sure it is, and we’ll get to that in a moment. But before you ever experience the story, you see that it really is a pretty book. One I think my father might have selected for me, with all the other circumstances being right. There’s something lasting and promising and deliciously old-timey about the cover and binding of The Dread Crew. And that’s all right, because Inglis and her band of merry men deliver on all of those promises.

The Dread Crew is a tale of imagination and friendship. ... This is a spirited tale, gorgeously rendered. A debut work from a confident writer I feel sure will delight us again in the future.

January Magazine is one of the most respected book-related publications on the Web. Founded by author Linda L. Richards and graphic artist and photographer David Middleton in 1997, January has grown steadily, adding various sections and offshoot publications in the intervening years. January is perhaps best known for the author interviews it has published, including exclusive interviews with Salman Rushdie, Dennis Lehane, Margaret Atwood and many others. Over the years, January Magazine has become known for its sharp writing, art and editing as well as an arrogant style that frequently underscores the publication's independence from the publishing industry.

Click here to read January Magazine's complete review.

 The Dread Crew reaches Scotland, 'entrances'

The Dread Crew is a children's book, but like all the best children's books, that means that adults can ostensibly buy it for someone else and read it themselves on the sly.

The book as a whole was...... I find it hard to pinpoint the precise, correct word. Entrancing, I think is closest. I would not want to even try to describe the plot, involving as it does exceptionally smelly pirates, a fearsome wood ship, peacocks and goats locked in low-key warfare, an adventurous, talented and insightful grandpa and a Gooperator.

It's the kind of book that, as a child, I particularly loved: a clever and resourceful child (that would be me, of course) discovers that behind the facade of normal life, strange and wonderful things not only exist, but thrive, and are there for the discovering. ... Kate's unique, startlingly original turns of phrase, her vividly quirky descriptions and most of all her sly, earthy humour are all there. With pirates. Pirates! How can you resist?

Loth of The Gym Isn't Working was one of the Stories That Stick meme winners, a blogger with Canuck connections who lives in Nova Scotia's motherland. Or put more properly, a blogger who is the target of this Canuck's envy for living in the motherland of sticky toffee pudding.

Read her sweet and spritely review here.

TwoBusy gets happy, and passes it on

Neil Kramer says Dreads "go against clichés", interviews Kate from New York City (audio!) 

The humor and sarcasm of Kate’s writing would have made this book a favorite of mine when I was a boy. The tone reminded me of those oddball adventure books written by Roald Dahl. The Dread Crew turns piracy on its head in unexpected ways. Pirate unions? Pirate junk-collectors? Pirates roaming in the forest?!

This novel has a strong sense of place, that of the Maritime Canadian woods, and at first, it seems like a strange place for a pirate story. On further research, I discovered that there is a whole tradition of Atlantic Canada pirate adventures, and clearly Kate is playing with — and against — this long tradition, even presenting her readers with a very modern environmental message underneath all of the “heap o’ splinters” and maggots in beards.

Neil Kramer of Citizen of the Month is a screenwriter in New York City. He's funny, has the greatest voice in all of the entire universe, and enjoys raucous jokes as well as bright red flannel pajamas.

Read Neil's complete review of the book here - and listen to a long, giggly, two-part audio conversation during which Neil asks me about boyishness, the nature of delightful mud, and the mysteries of the urban/rural divide (otherwise known as Nordstrom's versus a backwoods rooster pen).

Her Bad Mother shows up at my doorstep bearing maps, flashlights, and a spyglass

Instead of keeping Eric and Missy and Grandpa Joe (he's a right old Joe!) and the Dread Crew to myself, I'll read it to my own kids with the same passion that I read - over and over and over again - Peter Pan and, soon, the chronicles of Narnia and the adventures of the Five and the Twins and Miss Drew and Harriet and, I suppose, Harry Potter and his gang. And I will urge them - I will insist to them - that pirates are as real and as awesome as the Dread Crew, and that they could find them, too, if they applied themselves hard enough to looking.

Catherine Connors is a mother, writer and recovering academic who traded the lecture hall for the playroom and discovered that university students and preschoolers have much the same attention span. In addition to Bad Mother blogging at BeliefNet, she is, among other things, the author of HerBadMother.com, Managing Editor of MamaPop, moderator of Her Bad Mother's Basement, co-founder and co-editor of WeCovet, Contributing Editor at BlogHer, and (deep breath) founder of and contributor to Canada Moms Blog.

Read Catherine's complete review of The Dread Crew here.

'A slug-smackin' good time that's great for any age...'

What I loved most about this book was its accessibility. It was so hard to pin down an age group for it, which in the end, who cares? That means it's great for any age, and I think that's going to lend to its success. Children, adults, and tweens can all enjoy it. I imagined my mom reading it to me when I was little. The excitment in the storyline, plus the well-developed plot, plus its length (not too short, not too long!) will also make it a great re-read for me as an adult–something I can read while I eat a bowl of soup, or vacation, or just plain need a break from real life.

Steph of 1,000 Dog-Eared Pages lives in Lakewood, OH and runs her book review blog pretty much the same way she does her life: intermittently. She's been into Books for as long as she can remember, and is so thankful Books is still into her too after the way she's treated him all these years.

Read Steph's complete review of The Dread Crew here.

'a tale of gruesomeness and delight, wildness and wonder'

A tangle of mouldering landscapes peppered with deliciously absurd characters, sort of in the vein of Roald Dahl only more sophisticatedly, outrageously so, the Dread Crew is a tale of gruesomeness and delight, wildness and wonder. A band of crass and crude pirates crash and smash their way through the deep forests of Nova Scotia, terrorizing and scandalizing and dirtifying the local inhabitants out of their wits, yet one eccentric and avuncular man with the help of a couple of brave and heart-true kids turn the whole kaboodle on its festering ear.

The gifted blogger known as Shrieky is first up to review The Dread Crew among winners of the Stories that Stick meme.

Read her complete and wonderful thoughts on the book here.

BHJ calls me weird, but I think that's a good thing.

Of course you’re going to like it. It’s pirates, after all, with crazy names and super cool illustrations (with lots of shadowy hash marks, like that interesting kid in high school used to draw—the one you wished you could see like).

There’s a spunky deaf girl and a ship on wheels and a little boy who trusts his instincts. Did I mention the hot dogs? And there’s an old guy who thinks he’s too old for adventure and all these pirates, the deaf girl, the kid with the instincts—they all come together to teach him otherwise. Because too old for adventure? There’s no such thing. You’re never too old for adventure. Just like you’re never too old for cool books for kids about pirates.

BHJ is second up to bat for the Dread Crew's virtual book tour. So many people I've met—first online and then living-and-breathing—share this trait. They're genuinely odd. They think differently, see things differently. I tell them I've talked to trees and they just nod, eyes open.

For a communion of treasured weirdos, BHJ is the king. Read his complete review here.

Dreads deemed 'belching, romping, refreshing'

...There is a strong message to this book, but the imaginative scope, slapstick humour and overall joyful noise of the whole package runs counter to any dread didacticism. The illustrations by Sydney Smith are both playful and other-worldly. They are the perfect match for Inglis' belching, romping, refreshing words. 

Click here for Sue's complete review of The Dread Crew on Mousetraps & the Moon, her fabulous childrens' lit roundup. Sue Fisher is the Curator of the Eileen Wallace Children's Literature Collection at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton, New Brunswick. The collection has the largest research holdings of children's literature in Atlantic Canada. Her blog, Mousetraps & the Moon, is the ultimate retreat for kids' books enthusiasts and readers alike.

From Mousetraps & the Moon ::: I, lucky librarian that I am, get to spend my day with children's books. The collection I curate is the largest of its kind in Atlantic Canada, with holdings that are diverse, as well as serendipitous, built up over time by collection founder and benefactor, Eileen Wallace. A significant collection strength is historical and contemporary Atlantic Canadian Books for Children.